This course will become read-only in the near future. Tell us at community.p2pu.org if that is a problem.

The Common Core State Standards suggest that writing must live across all disciplines. Let's explore that idea.

The Common Core State Standards suggest that writing must live across all disciplines. This course is an exploration of what that might look like. Through conversation, reading, and writing together, participants in this course, developed in partnership with the National Writing Project, will explore what it means to write deeply across the disciplines as a way of learning, as well as what it might mean to ask students to write for a discipline.

It is essential that we are writing somewhere. I use a blog for much of my online writing. If you have a blog where you are writing about the course, please share a link to it in the comments and tell us more about what you write there. If you don't yet have an online writing space where you're writing and thinking in public, you might consider starting one. Here are a couple of great places where you can start blogs:

If you're not yet ready to write somewhere else, please consider this course as a conversation space for you - every time you're in a task, you can comment and respond to each other. Just click on "New Comment" in the top right of a page to add your thoughts to that page. But wherever you write, make sure that you're writing. It's an essential habit for all teachers and learners.

Whereever you're writing, please leave a comment to this task telling us where and what and how and when and why you're writing with students. And if you're not yet, tell us why not - and what you're going to do about that.

Task Discussion

Because I work so much right now, my own personal writing is pretty non-existent. I would love to start a blog and am looking into doing that...in my spare time (right). This course will push me to get one started, and for that I am very grateful.

Getting my students to write can be an adventure because many of them hate writing and feel they are terrible at it. I try to get them to get their thoughts on paper (or the computer) first, and then worry about editing. They find it fascinating when I tell them that all of the published writers out there work with an editor before their work even gets published, often creating several drafts BEFORE it even makes it to the editing staff! I try to get them to see the relationship between reading and writing and thought, and how anyone can try their hand at all of them, and be successful with practice. I guess it is the challenge of that task that keeps me teaching, and the thrill of seeing their "Ah hah" moments that keep me going.

Since I attended the summer institute of the Denver Writing Project, I've faithfully written regularly, usually in notebooks just for my own reflection. I try to regularly write at the top of a blank page, "What went well?" I stole this reflective prompt from Douglas Reeves, who recommends that teachers write regularly about their successful efforts in order to develop a "success seeking" mindset. In a stack of old compostion books, tucked in between crazy pages of monitoring notes, writing demonstrations and indecipherable doodles, are extended reflections and stories from the best days in my classroom.

Sometimes I type them into a google doc. Its comforting to know that a search of my google docs for titles like "What's gone well" and "What went well" returns a small but proud list of documents.

I have a blog that's never gotten off the ground, mostly because I'm committed to the first draft reflective writing- the self indulgent stuff- and I don't bother to do the heavy lifting of rereading, editing, and hitting "publish."

I love keeping journals. I used to write in my journal everyday, but I've gotten out of the habit. This is something that I need to get back into. I think that journaling helps to keep you centered and realize what's important.

In addition to keeping a journal, I do a lot of writing in my classes. I'm an online high school English teacher and I write a lot of lessons for students to complete. Like with most teachers, when I write lessons a part of me comes through that displays my passion for the subject.

I don't personally write anywhere right now. Occasionally, I keep up with a journal. I think for me, journal writing comes in waves.

I agree with the outlook that the best writers are writers themselves. I have never really been a great writer. It took me a long time to open myself up to writing, so others may publicly view it.

However, I tend to write mostly through e-mails or correspondence between parents and friends. I also write administration documents for my school. For example, I draft up policies and reports that help move our school towards accreditation. This where I do most of my public writing.

Additionally, I am a full time teacher. I lead a Writers Workshop everyday for 4th and 5th grade students. Recently, we have been studying poetry. I feel some of my students love it because it is shorter than an essay or a short story. I love teaching poetry because their is a lot of freedom to express yourself. Though my students are learning the more traditional forms of poetry take time to write well.

I have my students keep up with a blog called diipo.net for my Readers Workshop. diipo.net or diipo.com is online microblogging site for educators. The students really like posting; because I post a question to them about a book they are reading and they respond. I think this is an interactive way to get students thinking about the books they are reading.

I write - consistently sporadically - at my blog. I also write relatively often on Twitter, where I also read to gain knowledge and hear what colleagues are thinking about and doing.

Occasionally, I'll try to write something for spaces not hosted by me, like Cooperative Catalyst or 100 Word Story. And I'll also occasionally comment on the blog posts of others.

I have a zillion googledocs which contain a great deal of my writing. And I write a lot of email. A lot. As an aside, thinking about the form of email - what might be most helpful/readable for the recipient - has caused me to become a much better writer of email (in my opinion) and, I believe, has helped me become a better writer, generally.

I don't write with kids these days, sadly, since I'm not currently in the classroom.

I do not have a place to write really. I have not started a blog but will give it some thought. For now, this comment area will be my place to share thoughts. When I was younger, I spent a lot of time writing--even went so far as to start a book,but never finished it. Life seems to get in the way of routine writing.
I spent today listening to very vague information about the Common Core. I have started reading what is available for this group and was glad that I had. Today's conference was frustrating, to say the least. I am hoping this group will be a better place to get a handle on this Common Core stuff.

I am really looking forward to hearing about some of the work you are all doing in regards to the Common Core, as well as hashing out how well they reflect what I feel our students should be creating as they course through our schools.

Personally, I can relate to the posts above that indicate the on-again, off-again nature of writing. I do/did most of my writing at my blog, Chalkdust101, which has been active in some capacity since 2007. Lately, however, I haven't made the time to write, and I can honestly say that it has affected my thinking. By that I mean that I don't think as clearly, as well, or for sustained stretches as I did when I was writing regularly.

This interaction, I am hoping, will not only help me get my head around the Common Core in a more complete way, but also to spur some of those processes again.

I agree, Patrick (and it's great to see you here). I want to get back in the habit of reflective writing to process and organize my thoughts. It is surprising how quickly one gets out of the habit. (Sort of like my running.)

I like how you describe your blog as the "hub" of activity. It's interesting to see you write that pulling back on writing has affected the way you think. I'm looking forward to seeing you blow "the dust" off your blog, Patrick.

I've just recently created a new place to write about the topic of being engaged (not the married kind, the motivated kind.) I also am planning to write with my students here. So far, due to technical issues, not much has come of my students' blog. But-they've all at least created their own so far and uploaded (mostly) their first writing samples from my class. They're perfect by no means, but they are writing.

It will be a happy day when the technical issues (either computer or human-made) are no longer something we need to worry about, and the way we communicate in all modes and mediums is not impacted by the shortfalls of those modes and mediums. Sigh. Until then .... keep on writing!

When I really think about it, I spend quite a bit of time writing during the day. I am an English teacher, after all. So I spend an inordinate amount of time hammering away on a keyboard or scratching on paper in response to student work. So, in some ways, I wonder if my most insightful material isn't distibuted across the marginalia of a couple hundred student papers.

Among my courses, I teach a hybrid journalism class and an online screenwriting class, both of which demand a fair amount of concentrated writing with and to students. I just wrote in response to a student that our screenwriting class is almost entirely made up of writing, a strange brew of demonstration, creativity, correspondence, and more.

I do feel like I never quite have enough time to simply write for me. Of course I do, but not with the same volume or consistency that say many of my NWP peers routinely crank out. Perhaps, it is because I spend a fair amount of time chasing around my two under-five kiddos, or maybe it is because I probably spend even more time reading than writing, although I fear it is probably too much television or making excuses. Plus, I always feel like I am a painfully slow writer, which can be a bit crippling in the shoot-first-edit-later blogging world that we now find ourselves.

Nevertheless, I still try to keep a few blogs and sites open for business. I do most of my professional thinking in words at Haas Learning, a blog I started a while back to log thoughts about my practice and fire up some chatty cooking for classes just like this. I just wish I could be more regular about throwing things up there.

Between this and the year long Change MOOC that I am following, I am hoping that the sheer inspiration will have enough gravitational pull to get me generating a lot more material.

Yet, in honor of class in week one, I am posting a sort of micro story that I wrote with with my students as part of a narrative lesson in the last week or so. It is still a little rough but what the heck.

Hi, Fred. I wonder if you know about NaNoWriMo. (It's a crazy write-a-novel-in-a-month project. We have another writing group here on P2PU to prep for it.) I was thinking of it in reading your introduction because they also have a Young Writers Program and a Script Frenzy project.)

It's all great fun. For me, Nov. and Nano is a time to write "just for me!"

I actually did know about them, but have never had my act together enough to take a crack at any of them myself. I first hearf of it a few years ago at the NCTE, through an NWP teacher consultant who presented on running a class of high school students through NaNoWriMo as part of her class. It was the kind of awesomely ambitious, half-crazed effort that always catch my eye. I even think I would love to try running a class through something like that someday.

I do have students in my screenwriting class discuss NaNoWriMo and Script Frenzy with increasing regularity, although, it is always on the periphery, especially because the students hail from all over the country, sometimes world. Still, the class tends to attract a lot of kids who are pretty serious about writing. There are two or three I have in class right now that have been chatting about it on the side. I am pretty sure one of them is going to give Script Frenzy a go. She was trying to enlist some cohorts.

Neverheless, thanks again for the note. I really appreciate you taking the time to read and respond. I'd love to see some of your thoughts or read about some of your experiences with any of the programs.

Last school year I printed off information about NaNoWriMo and hope to someday complete the month long writing with my students. I think I need more experience myself as a writer before I embark on such a daunting project.

I have enjoyed reading some of the initial comments from everyone about where and when they write. I am writing in a variety of places these days--online with Powerful Learning Practice participants as we explore the impact of technology on teaching and learning; with former students on their blogs, and on my own blogs here and here, where I want to write specifically for this course. I can't imagine thinking through anything without writing about it.

Since leaving the classroom, I miss writing with my students. I am now trying to figure out how to get back to it. It seems I am always trying to plan what to do with the rest of my life, and here I am again looking ahead and making changes.

I was talking to one of my classes today about writing and how for me writing is such a personal endeavor. That to share my writing is almost, in a sense, opening myself up to criticism (which I do not take well :). Even though I started a blog last year, there are days when I want to reflect about a topic, but am almost "fearful" of the response and the controversy it might cause. I need to overcome that hurdle in order to move on with my own writing.

The whole "personal" aspect of writing is so interesting. Some of my writing is hugely personal to me, and I would never consider sharing it (even though it's not really personal if you know what I mean). On the other hand, I blog and tweet endlessly without much thought.

A little over a year ago, I joined Writing.com, which is a writing community. At first, I was very reluctant to make my writing there public, even though that's the whole idea of the site. I started small with sharing a few pieces written for informal contests there. (One of my goals in joining was to get by writing word count up in preparation for Nano last year.) Over time, I got more comfortable with sharing other things there.

One thing that helped me was a very constructive model of peer review they have there. It's all about supporting one another, and I found the feedback I got helpful and encouraging. Of course that makes you want to share more and to give peer feedback to one another.

While I joined the site as a writer not a teacher, this all made me thing about writing and peer collaboration in educational settings. All verey interesting.

Not just lesson plans, comments in the gradebook, or reports for school.

Not just the tweets that I add to chats with friends I have made on Twitter about every subject from kale chips to books that I can add to my TBR pile.

Not just the to-do and honey-do lists that dot our kitchen table. Or the note I leave for my small son when I leave before he wakes in the morning.

I have notebooks FULL of writing. Thoughts on the day, reflections on lessons, snippets of beautiful language from what I have read or overheard, ideas I have for what I want to do next. There used to be more experimental wanderings. Those forays into writing about a character who is just wanting to come to life. Or a poem that is coming together.

What I have been really less dedicated about is trying to make an online space to put parts of what has gone in the notebooks out online. I have been watching and commenting and then I went ahead in a burst of activity last January and made a blog. And have barely posted there. It resides at http://chartingbythestars.wordpress.com/ and I really want to get into the habit of posting more there than I have. (This should not be much of a challenge. I added a post yesterday from my phone yesterday and it was my third post. I have nowhere to go but up!)

It's not that I'm nervous about sharing there. But I don't really think about the blog when I get the idea. Or I get the idea and think about the blog and then don't think I have enough time to write it.

There is a save draft option, I'm realizing. No more excuses.

I do write with my students. I got the challenge from my seniors last week to write a 200 word essay on how I have influenced my students the most - .their version of a college application essay for me. I think I'll put my first draft up on the blog. I'm writing narrative essays with my freshmen so I might put one or two of my attempts up. I need to have a sense of putting myself out there to be able to relate to what they feel when they are asked to work with others, to share their writing. I'm more than comfortable sharing with them. I need to be sharing with my peers to get the experience.

I often feel like a wandering writer, with little nooks and crannies all over the joint.

But my main home for writing is my blog, Kevin's Meandering Mind, which I began on a whim and a sort of a dare from another National Writing Project friend a few years ago and I have yet to find a real focus for my site. I'm fine with that. I mostly dive into learning and technology and writing, but I have been known to sidetrack into webcomics, humor, and music, and whatever else seems worth writing about.

I blog because I do like the idea of daily writing (a leftover from my days as a newspaper journalist). I write in the mornings, before the kids get up, when my mind seems brimming with ideas from the night, and that writing focuses me into the day of teaching and learning.

I write a few times a week on mrgoerend.com for my students. I usually write some sort of topical reflection on what we're working on in class. I also write weekly updates to parents on my district-provided blog.

Offline, I write all the "assignments" I give my students. I don't always do the daily in-class writings because I also like to circle and see what they are writing, but when we do projects like writing a mystery short story (as we're currently doing) I also participate in that writing.

I also write on my http://www.russgoerend.com but that has taken a backseat to the writing for and with students this year. I plan on publishing any "assignments" for this class on that blog, though. On a more fun note -- and this is a bit of a secret, so don't tell anyone -- I've started a new blog called Pigskin Popcorn Review. A few friends and I attend a local high school football game every Friday night and I've decided to start reviewing the concession stands at the fields. I needed a creative outlet, so there it is.

Writing is tiring. Writing is energezing. It's draining and it fills me up. I'm not sure what kind of teacher I'd be if I didn't write as much as I do, but I know I'm better off this way.

I am a public school teacher within the Hawaii State Dept of Education and teach at-risk upper level high school students and adults who did not complete high school diplomas. I am an English teacher. I also work as a part-time instruictor at a local university and help to teach classes in peace studies and nonviolence.

For writing, I am writing a phd dissertation is a social science discipline. So, I not like many of you who have blogs or have personal writing projects of one kind or another where you write. I read books, do endless research in the library and write about history and politics! Thus, what I write may not appeal at all to many of you. The area where it may be relevant is where I fuse my own personal interests and politics into thinking and writing about possible pedagogy practices unlike much of the conventional educational practices we are familiar with in American and western educational settings. I think much about and write stuff that intersect history and contemporary politics with historical impacts of colonialism on Indigenous communities and what/how they teach and learn about how to "fit" in today's world. I have a complete first chapter about a topic that may seem passe' to most - nationalism in today's world. It has to do with a formerly colonized Pacific island culture and people making do with nation-building after centuries of colonialism and more recent American nuclear colonialism.

I'll stop here, because I might already have lost many of you...! :o)

Thank you.

P2P2 profile:
I am a public school teacher in Hawaii. I am originally from the Pacific island nation of Palau, in the western Pacific Ocean. I came to Hawaii to work on my undergraduate and graduate degrees (BA and MA), in a social science displine. I got accepted in a PhD program and completed all course requirements, passed a Comprehensive Examination, and was awarded an ABD Certificate and began to write a doctoral dissertation. However, I haven't been able to complete due to my limited funding. I began looking for work and found a teaching job in the public school and have been doing that for a few years. I love doing it. I am always interested in improving my teaching and learning about teaching strategies because I want to provide my students with the best teaching and learning I can give them. I am also interested in learning about using online teaching to reach many students who live on various, remote Pacific islands. For many of these, they have little opportunities to travel outside or little resources to afford traveling to good schools outside. But their small island governments invest some resources into developing distance education technologies to provide students and teachers the capabilities to learn. I want to develop my abilities as a teacher who can provide this service.

Growing up on a Pacific island, I grew to love the ocean and like to swim and just snorkel around the reefs. I am a deep sea fisherman when I find the time to do it. I use a speargun to fish so I have to swim a lot.

I love reading different genres of books but I enjoy watching older and newer sci-fi shows and movies. I loved all Star-Trek show series, The X-Files, etc!
I work part-time for a local university's Center for Indigenous Leadership and Peacemaking and am interested both formally (in my graduate studies) and personally in learning about Indigenous philosophies and the role that these philosophies, alternative knowledge systems, and worldview inform our educational pedagogies, and (emerging) political, economic, cultural, and spiritual worldviews vis-a-vis the modern crises facing humanity.

I look forward to learning about each of you.

Thank you in advance for your kind consideration of my desire to participate in this and the other classes.

You didn't lose me, Richard:) And I also enjoy those sci-fi shows, though my recent "obsession" has been to watch each and every episode of Battlestar Galactica on DVD. It's taken me nearly two years since I'm not a big television watcher.

Oh thanks. Thank you very much Ms. Susan! It's wonderful to hear at least one person may have some interest. As I described somewhere in my profile, my interest in education (besides being a teacher) is researching and exploring new or different pedagogical practices that try to teach or connect with Indigenous students. It's not that I think Western pedagogy and educational content are not relevant. It's that Indigenous students come to schools and universities having learned very differently and thus have different ways of apprehending, appreciating things. Using different pedagogy that engages them at a deeper level, I hope, can connect them to ways of learning we know so much about and use in Western academic institutions. I myself am still learning as I come from that community of Indigenous folks (in my case, from a small, remote island in the wester Pacific Ocean).

Anyway, did you know there is this website where you can watch all the episodes of Battlestar Galactica and many, many other shows? Check it out: http://www.tvshowservers.com/

First, click on "Order Alphabetically" so it's easier to find the show titles. Click on a show title and then click on "Episode Guide" and all seasons will show up. You should be able to watch every single episodes of the shows.

Mahalo nui loa (thank you very much - Hawaiian). Take care and have a nice day.

Given your stance on non-traditional educational systems, I think it will be great to have your input into a standardized curriculum like the Common Core, Richard. And you never know when a classmate with a speargun might come in handy in the wilds of the Net!

Peace

Kevin

PS -- I'm another Battlestar fan, although I stalled with my DVD series a year or so ago. Might need to revisit it again.

I started a blog last year as a way to deal with frustrations and issues I witnessed regularly in the school where I work as well as in the educational field in general. I will be the first to admit that I have not been "regular" in my postings, sometimes going months without putting my thoughts onto "paper".

I, too, find myself doing too much for my students. They are just first graders so it's easy to talk myself into making it easier. I will be sure to just provide the scaffold next time. I need to write a reminder and put it on my desk!